Montessori Letter Sounds - Learn Phonics with Tam & Tao

What it is: set of activities for teaching basic reading, spelling and writing skills.

What you do with it: the app contains 4 main activities:
The 'I spy' game: match an object whose name begins with the letter you hear.

The 'Letter Sounds' activity: listen to the letter sound then point to the correct letter.

The 'Mix and Match' activity: match the letter with the beginning sound of the object in the picture

The 'Sound it out' activity: drag the letters/letter sounds into the correct spaces to spell the word you hear.

The app also includes a 'toolbox': the Phonetic Alphabet, the Notebook and the Sandbox for tracing letters and the Image Box (for learning the names of the objects in the pictures).

What we liked: the concept, number and quality of the activities and their educational value, simple illustrations, spoken instructions, extra instructions for parents. The options for UK/US voices.

What we didn't like: Only for very patient children and parents. The navigation is not very intuitive and can be confusing for children (that's why we recommend parental assistance). The scoring system is difficult to understand (it's not clear what you get the marbles for and how many you need to unlock consecutive levels). At first we had problems with recognizing some of the objects in the pictures, we recommend playing with the Image Box activity first to familiarize your child with the objects and their names.

Bottom line: an excellent (if not the best) set of tools for patient parents for teaching basic reading, spelling and writing skills.

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